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Rep.
Ackerman’s Move against the Spirit of Peace Process:
PALC Director on GEO TV
April
9,
2005. Focus Pakistan
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WASHINGTON:
PALC Executive Director Faiz Rehman talks in a TV interview
about a recent move by a pro-Indian congressman, Rep. Gary
Ackerman, who opposes a full US assistance to Pakistan, a
major US ally on war on terror.
“Congressman Gary Ackerman is working against the current tide on the Subcontinent,
where people are making genuine efforts to establish long-term peace in the region,” says
Faiz Rehman while talking to GEO TV’s Kamran Khan on his show “Today
with Kamran Khan.” The show will air at 12:30 AM, (Eastern Time) Saturday,
April 9 (Friday night), and again 3:30 PM, Saturday to an international audience,
including North America and Europe.
Congressman Gary Ackerman is a co-chair of the India Caucus in US Congress,
and is widely known for his harsh anti-Pakistan views. He seeks to eliminate
hundreds of US jobs in the aviation industry by blocking the sale of F-16
planes to Pakistan. He is moving a bill in US Congress seeking to undo
what the Bush administration, after due diligence, has agreed to do, that
is--selling F-16 planes to Pakistan to help a reliable partner in war on
terror. The US State Department has determined that the F-16 sale to Pakistan
will not alter the balance of power in the region. US has also offered
F-16 planes to India.
“Congressman Ackerman’s efforts to attack US-Pakistan relations,
is just an attempt to appease a few of his Indian supporters,” Rehman says
in the interview.
The Congressional Pakistan Caucus, which was formally launched in September
last, now has sixty-five members. “Today’s Pakistan is looked
at much differently in Congress than the Pakistan of the ‘90s,” says
Rehman, adding that the reasonable voices supporting Pakistan are more
in numbers and stronger in influence. “This is due to what Pakistan
has done in war on terror, and the fact the Pakistani American community
is more active and involved in national politics.” |
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